


Emerging Into the World Again

by AnotherWyldeOne



Category: Acceleracers, Hot Wheels (Movies), Hot Wheels AcceleRacers, Hot Wheels: Acceleracers, hotwheels acceleracers
Genre: Anger, Angst, Brotherhood, Brothers, Food, Gen, Guilt, Lack of Communication, Metal Maniacs - Freeform, Post-Prison, Pre-Ignition, Regret, Resentment, Teku - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:13:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27241741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnotherWyldeOne/pseuds/AnotherWyldeOne
Summary: Kurt picks up Mark from prison. Set Pre-Ignition.
Relationships: Kurt Wylde and Mark Wylde
Kudos: 3





	Emerging Into the World Again

When Kurt picked up Mark from prison, neither really spoke. 

When Mark came out of the last locked door between him and the outside world, he was wearing a basic white tank, black jeans, and tennis shoes Kurt had picked up for him and dropped off the previous day. 

Kurt had forgotten to bring socks.

Kurt had known the clothes his brother was arrested in would no longer fit, because the 16 year old Markie that had gone in those doors was not the 18 year old who came back out them. Though he didn’t know exactly how much this was true, because he hadn’t seen his brother at all for the two years Mark had been inside. 

Kurt wished things had been different. 

His little brother being able to look him in the eye now, because they were the same height, was new. And so was the stubble. And the deeper voice that greeted him with a subdued,” Hey, Kurt,” when Mark emerged outside into the sunshine, a small duffel bag over his shoulder. 

Kurt gave his brother a hug, holding him for a moment, wishing he didn’t have to let go. Mark stiffly returned the embrace, desperately fighting the urge to hold on and not let go of Kurt for a while. 

Mark looked at Kurt as if he was unsure when they disengaged, his eyes not quite meeting his brother’s, looking like he wanted to say something, ask something, before the wind ruffling his hair and clothes distracted him. He looked around at the world around him with somewhat wide eyes, as if he had forgotten how it looked. 

It pained Kurt to see it. A grimace tinged with regret, guilt, loss, and love, came and went across his face before Mark looked back at him. Mark hadn’t noticed. 

Kurt decided not to ask him all of the questions plaguing him until at least the next day. 

“Well,” Kurt turned and opened the passenger door to his car, a normal sportscar (for once, Mark thought to himself), motioning for his brother to get in,” shall we?”

“Sure,” again with the subdued tone, Mark answered his brother and promptly climbed into the car. A deep inhale of the scent of leather and car cleaning products and his brother’s aftershave was what finally made him relax, as much as it irked him.

Kurt quickly walked around the car and got in the driver’s seat. He gave Mark a quick glance, pleased to note he seemed less stiff than he had a minute ago as he gazed out the window, before buckling himself in and starting the car. They were cruising down the road in seconds, every moment getting further and further from a place neither ever wanted to see again. 

“So…..you hungry?,” Kurt glanced at his brother again as he drove down the road, going over in his head places they could go eat. It was lunch time after all and he was sure Mark would appreciate some non-prison food. 

The younger Wylde brightened at the question, a less subdued,” Sure,” coming from his lips this time. Kurt wondered vaguely if he’d forgotten how to have a conversation. That thought made his heart ache, because his brother used to be such a chatter box. There had been times he had begged Mark to stop talking for just one minute. 

He missed those days.

“Ok, what’re you in the mood for?”

Mark looked pensive for a moment, looking back to the window before glancing back at Kurt, saying,” Everything.” It had been so long since he had gotten to choose what he ate and how much of it he got. 

Just the thought made his stomach growl. 

A bemused smile crossed Kurt’s face at the noise as Mark blushed slightly, a slight chuckle in Kurt’s voice as he replied,” So, a buffet?”

They had gone to a lot of buffets back in the day. It had been way cheaper for Kurt to pay for them to go to a buffet rather than a normal restaurant, especially when they had both still been growing. They could both eat their fill at the buffets, sometimes eating 6-7 full plates each. Even when Kurt first started working at an actual job, they could never have afforded that much food from a regular restaurant. 

It made Kurt smile, but the memory of steam trays and pre-made crappy food, lots of people milling around at different tables, instantly soured Mark on the idea. It sounded too much like a prison cafeteria. 

He grimaced slightly at the thought, a quick,” Nah,” escaping his lips before another thought occurred to him,” How about somewhere else with a lot of variety? Like, whatsit, Cheesecake something or other?,” a beat of silence passed as Kurt glanced over his shoulder while he merged the car on the freeway, going in the direction of the restaurant.  
As he looked over the freeway toward LA city proper, Mark mumbled, his Brooklyn accent a little heavier,” Actually, a slice of cheesecake sounds awesome.” 

That made Kurt smile. Once a New Yorker always a New Yorker. 

………………………..  
Despite Kurt’s hopes, the conversation did not pick up over their lunch. 

He had mostly picked at his food (chicken and pesto pasta) as Mark devoured the contents of two bread baskets, his own plate of food (double bacon cheeseburger with extra fries), and the rest of Kurt’s. Mark had also managed to down four Cokes to Kurt’s one iced tea.

Kurt had watched, concerned at his little brother’s hunger, but saying nothing other than to ask what kind of cheesecake Mark wanted when the wide-eyed (slightly perturbed) waitress returned for their dessert order. 

The answer of a slice of New York style cheesecake still made him smile. He ordered one slice for himself, knowing that Mark would likely finish off both slices. And Mark did just that.

A much more contented looking Mark and a slightly concerned looking Kurt got back into Kurt’s car and headed toward Kurt’s apartment. 

The elder Wylde spent a significant amount of his time at the Teku garage/house, but still maintained his own apartment. It was located in a nice high-rise building, with a doorman, somewhere in downtown LA.

Kurt was relatively sure that Taro had a condo somewhere in the general area too, because he had seen Taro’s two younger siblings, Tera (15 year old girl) and Haru (13 year old boy), around a time or two in the local markets. He had never stuck around long enough once he saw them to see Taro, but he had heard his voice.

Kurt knew that Taro had been raising his siblings since their parents died 6 years ago. They had passed away in a small airplane crash, based on what he’d heard.

Kurt mentioned the detail about Taro living nearby in passing to Mark, in another effort to start a conversation, but Mark said nothing.

…………………………  
Mark just got more and more angry at his brother as they made their way to his apartment, in the fancy apartment building. They could never have afforded anything like this growing up, but Kurt’s first success at the Grand Prix had opened a lot of doors and it wasn’t long after that that Kurt could afford places like this.

But Mark had lived the past two years in a prison cell, not living it up in a high rise. 

Kurt showed him around the place as if it was nothing, as if Mark had not been basically living with nothing for two years. 

The younger Wylde decided then and there that he was leaving that night. He thought he might get in touch with Taro. 

………………….  
That night, Mark did leave, after taking all of his important papers from Kurt’s safe, like his birth certificate and social security card. And the keys to his Stingray from the World Race, which Kurt had stored on site. 

The Stingray was spotless, in perfect working order, with a full gas tank and smelled of car cleaning products and Kurt’s aftershave, as if Kurt spent a lot of time keeping the car up himself rather than hiring someone to detail it. 

Mark called Taro as soon as he found his number in some of his World Race papers.  
………………..  
Over the next two days Taro helped Mark get some things sorted out, like getting an updated phone, and helped him turn his Stingray into a Metal Maniac worthy car. 

By the end of those two days, he was a Metal Maniac. 

A month later, Mark told Kurt his life was already ruined. 

A month after that, Wylde told Kurt he was scrap like all Teku and punched him when he called him Markie. And then punched Vert when he got into Wylde’s face for punching Kurt. 

A month after that, Tone died. 

………………………

Around a year later, the two brother’s would wish they had talked more on their drive to the restaurant, or at the restaurant. They would wish they had asked each other the questions they’d been pondering for months. 

If they had, they would have known much sooner that something was very, very wrong.


End file.
